Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Any Dream Will Do

I have loved the movie/play "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" since before I can even remember. I've known every word of every song for what seems like my entire life, and have a particular affection for belting them out in the car, in the shower, and on the treadmill. In fact, when I was seven, I was so good at singing every word (usually even the right ones!) to every song on every car ride, that my mom wrote to some hot shot and I got to meet Donny Osmond after a show in Chicago. The real Joseph! Anyway...

Today, I was on the treadmill listening to the familiar songs, singing them when I had the breath to do so, dancing just enough so I wouldn't completely wipe out, and remembering my favorite parts in the movie, when a line I've sung a million times before seemed to jump out at me.

"But all that I say can be told another way

In the story of a boy whose dream came true...

And he could be you."

That last line made me stop and think. My thoughts got all tangled up in my head, but they went something like this: he could be you, wish I could be a hero, could that happen in real life?, cool lesson, books should teach this lesson, wait, this is technically based on a book, does it matter if it's real life?...lightbulb.

That's exactly why we read, isn't it? Maybe we can't all be a hero like Joseph just by doing our thing, but maybe that's why we read. So we can be the hero, at least for a little while.

I can be Joseph, interpreting dreams for Pharaoh and saving Egypt.

I can be Frodo, to destroying the One Ring in the fires of Mordor.

I can be Wendy, venturing into the world of the Lost Boys.

I can be Gatsby, spending my entire life trying to be good enough Daisy.

I can be Holden, struggling just to make it through.

I can be Scout, trying to understand why life is so unfair.

I can be Harry, sacrificing myself to defeat Voldemort.

Maybe I'll never save Egypt, or defeat an evil mastermind, or find a magical place where no one grows up. But I love that I can try that life out for a while, live it, breathe it, sing it. I can be anything with the turn of a page.